Bastard Nation advocates for the civil and human rights of adult citizens who were adopted as children. Millions are prohibited by law from accessing personal records that pertain to their historical, genetic and legal identities. Such records are held by their governments in secret and without accountability, due solely to the fact that they were adopted.
Bastard Nation campaigns for the restoration of their right to access their records. End a hidden legacy of shame, fear and venality.

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Dear Editor, PEOPLE Magazine

Congratulations on your article, "Home Safe" (March 17, 2003) Finally, someone has presented both sides of the question of whether or not the laws that legalize the abandonment of infants are indeed good ones. Thank you for interviewing Bastard Nation Executive Chair, Marley Greiner.

Those of us who oppose "safe haven" laws are not baby killers.

I am an adopted woman who dreads to think of any infant being stripped
of his/her identity. I am also a retired schoolteacher who cringes at
the thought of telling young people there is a legal way to avoid
taking responsibility for one’s actions. And I am a mother who cries to
think of even one young girl having to go through a pregnancy and birth
all alone.

Wouldn’t it be better if the states would focus their resources and
energy into developing programs that would target young women during
their crisis pregnancies? The young women would have the opportunity to
receive professional counseling, good medical care, and help in making
the best possible choice for the child’s future, all before the baby is
born.